Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1898 — Page 1 Advertisements Column 6 [ADVERTISEMENT]

for it”..with that assumption o ' supreme honesty—means simply this: A PUBLIC CONTRACT HAS NO BINDING FOBOE EXCEPT AS AGAINST THE PUBLIC. We beg of v ou do not pass this proposition witn the sssamution that it is an exaggeration. It iB plain and simple truth. It is the abandonmedt of the legal i ights of tho public whenever they are need* ed for pnblio protection. Ii is hot a few weeks since this very thing was done in the matter of the Union Pacific sale. Th-> govern; ment had ample opportunity to protdot itself on its mortgage on that * roperty bv selling the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific roads together. It had the opportunity to donate the railroad bond syndicate several million dollars by selling tho roads seoarately. The roads were sold separately. The attorney general under whom ttr‘s was done, in the *aoe of a protest against his ability and qualifications from the benoh and bar of the section of the nation fromlwbich he comes, is promoted to the supremo benoh of the United States. Possibly that was done’' to make company for, Mir. Justice Shirafc, but the thing to which we now wftb to oali attention is the piinciple involved in the mortgage sale.

And it is not praotioed upon in national matters alone. It is the same principle that is invoked to justify the acceptance of defective work by municipal oontraotois. It is the Bame principle that gives to the franohise-grebbsr, no matter by what fraud or scoundr a hsm he obtained hia fratotflsj the fall weight of every pefiny that he can extort, and denies to the public any relief under the letter of its con* tract It is the same principle that says the. oity is bound by the extension of a street railway fra a chise, without consideration, not in compliance with law, and made fourteen years before the expira tion of the franchise, and in the next breath condemns a beneficial franchise legally contracted for, because it waa made seven year/ before thfcexoiration of ite preced Ing franchise it is the same principle that disregards tbe”legal technicality” of the law and the constitution that all taxation shall be equal, aud assesses corporation property for taxation at a mere fraotion of its value,

We urge on you that this is the most demoralizing principle th t can possibly be introdneed in the business of a popular government. In a monaiohioal government there are persons in authority who are person illy interested in seeing that the government is not defrauded. In a popular government there ii no Bach direct interest in officials, and when yon adopt this principle that public contracts are binding on one side and not on the other you open the door to e\ ery swind ler and every sooundiel who oan debauch public offloi als and invite them to loot the treasury. In this particular case it is worse, because every effort has been made to ore ate artificially a dollar worth twice as much as the dollar of the con tract in which to pay the govern ment’s de t. It is the worse be nature of the contract was empha sized only three years ago by a large offer from the bond syndicate to have it changed. ..Indianapolis Sentinel.

Thus President McKinley die coursed to the Manufacturers' as sociatlon at New York: ' All those who repre ent, ns vou do, the great conservative but pro gressive business interests in tne country owe it not only to them selves, but to the people, to insist upon the settlement of this great question now, or else to face the alternative that it must be acain submitted for arbitration at the polls, The president thinks he knows what he is talking about. The fi nancial question must be settled NOW or it will never be settled on gold standard lines. Unless gold monometallism is fastened np n tne country before the No vember elections its advocates will have to “face the alternative that it must be again submitted for ar bitratio ,at the polls* President McKinley is a good enough politi cian to know what that means. If there is anything he dreads it is the ‘alternative” of going before the people vitb the monetary com’miwion plan.

FOR SALE!.. Large young Jersey co". Gives about one gallon of milk per day now. Be, fresh m March. Very handsome and gentle . Call on or address Engineer at River Queen Mill. Rensselaer, Ind. ««■ Bring on that wood.